ACCA welcomes the opportunity to provide input into Ireland’s 2027 budget. We believe that an effective tax system is built on simplicity, certainty, and stability. In our pre-budget submission, we set out the innovative measures that we believe will support resilient growth, reduce compliance burdens and upskill Ireland’s workforce.
Our research finds that confidence amongst global accountants fell sharply in Q1 2026 (Note 1). A major factor is the uncertainty of energy prices due to geopolitical instability. With Ireland being a significant net importer of energy, Ireland’s SMEs are set to face rising costs and increased inflation (Note 2). At ACCA we want to build better, fairer and more sustainable economies; we therefore have set out our key recommendations for government ahead of the 2027 Budget. These draw on our six overarching priorities: (a just transition that delivers a better world for business and society; the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive; supporting the development of the profession for the future; corporate governance; promote the use of AI in an ethical, responsible manner within a safe and transparent environment; and enhanced infrastructure development) for Ireland that we believe will, if managed correctly, support a sustainable future for all (Note 3). Simplicity, proportionality and targeted support for SMEs within the tax system are all calls we have long supported and believe are crucial to driving inclusive economic growth.
Our recommendations:
- Recommendation: Establishment of a suitable mechanism funded by government to support the disproportionate compliance burden on SMEs.
- Recommendation: Government funded support for SMEs in upskilling delivered through a dedicated sector-specific funding pool.
- Recommendation: Investigate the viability of a SME tax credit scheme for onboarding employees, designed to offset administrative and compliance-related costs.
- Recommendation: A funded investigation into a “trusted taxpayer” scheme that allows for reduced taxation information demands for compliant businesses.
- Recommendation: Investigate the establishment of an independent mechanism to carry out taxation measure impact assessment for administrative change to tax collection processes.
- Recommendation: Investigate extending the proposed regulatory innovation credit or the R&D tax credit to include the cost of building automated regulatory compliance systems.
- Recommendation: Introduction of Corporation Tax deduction for capitalisation of reserves and investigate significantly increasing the disregard for surcharge
To read our comments in full, please download the document found on this page.
Notes:
1 Global economic conditions survey report: Q1, 2026 - ACCA conducts the Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS), jointly with the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), and it is the world's largest regular survey of accountants, both in terms of the number of respondents and the range of economic variables monitored.
2 Euro area annual inflation up to 3.0% - Euro indicators - Eurostat
